If you've been around me very much, you know that I love a few different things when it comes to backing Kickstarter campaigns. I've already showed you our first set of stickers and today I'm going to show you one of my other loves...pins! 

You did it! We now have 50 followers on the campaign. I'm so excited. It felt like a huge goal, but y'all knocked it out of the park a good two weeks before we go live. Now the ball is back in my court. Now the the cover is in, I'm blessed to have Eric Cockrell working on the final graphics for the campaign. He says that I have to record my own audio for the video though. This is my first time creating a Kickstarter video so I'm pretty nervous! 

I'm so excited to be able to say that Cobalt's Castaways is done! I not only finished the final story last night, but I also did an initial formatting. I'm just waiting for the art for the book. Maxx is rocking it, I'm sure. She's such a talented and skilled artist. It wouldn't surprise me if I have the art within a week or two. 

So much has happened and I've been slack in updating everyone! For this book, I brought on a new artist. Her name is Maxx and she's fabulous. Let me show off a couple of her pieces:
Aren't they smashing? I love the little fish in that second kitty's mouth. She takes the time to really add personality to each drawing. I can't wait for all of you to see the rest of the pictures that she's done. She's also doing keychains and little figurines for the Kickstarter.

Please meet: Priscilla, Blue Moon, Zeus, Sunshine, Kitty Bowie, Apollo, Dorian, Pawdrey Hepburn, Kazu, Azael, Cookies and Cream! Most of these gorgeous babies live in cat colonies down in Florida. You may recognize Apollo and Dorian as two of my own cats. That's not my Zeus, but he was a feral baby just a week ago who now belongs to a wonderful family down in Florida.

Around here you're probably used to reading book reviews and not much else. Well, today we have a surprise for you! The cats received a special box in the mail and they couldn't wait to try it out and to share their opinions with all of you.

Opening up the box, we discovered this cute toy and a pack of cat treats! The cats were all about just diving into the treats, but I held them off long enough to add some of them to the toy itself. Since the picture doesn't make it totally clear, the mouse's head unscrews and you pour the treats in. I do suggest that you cover the bottom holes as much as you can. Otherwise, you end up with a lap full of cat treats...and then cats... Once it's filled, simply put the head back on and place the toy on the floor. As the cats swat it around, it rolls about (think weeble people for those of you as old as I am) and dumps out a few treats at a time onto the floor. My cats mastered this quickly and after that, every time I entered the bathroom, they were requesting that I add more. The one night that I didn't, they decided to tear open the treat bag and eat all of the treats! So, overall, this fun little toy was a total success and one that the hoard here will enjoy for ages to come.

Now, since I rarely post pictures or even video of the kitties, Dorian insisted that I show off him demonstrating the toy to Mittens... Enjoy!







We received this toy/treat combination in exchange for this review.  All thoughts, comments, and opinions are my own....and the cats'....
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Buckley and Bogey, Cat Detectives, find their next big case with the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Agency to be their most complicated ever! It all starts when someone hides a mysterious package in their Mom's antique store - in the middle of the night! Of course, the boys find it, and put it in a nice, safe place, until they can open it . . . and, find the rightful owner. But that's when a whole bunch of suspicious people show up in St. Gertrude, and every single one of them seems to be after that package! Holy Catnip! Plus, everything happens just when a priceless, jeweled statue collection goes on display at the St. Gertrude Museum. Missing from that collection are two jewel covered cat statues that disappeared almost a hundred and fifty years ago. But soon Buckley and Bogey wonder how long those statues will stay missing. Because this is one case that really keeps them on their paws! From a trip to the Museum, and to an old church for the Blessing of the Animals; and from dinosaurs to diamonds, they end up dodging shady suspects the whole time. It sure helps to have their friends with them, especially when the bad guys make a beeline for boys. That's because it becomes very clear, very quick - the priceless cat statues aren't the only cats those crooks are after! Holy Mackerel!

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While this book is geared more towards the early middle school years, it's one that I very much enjoyed reading. I appreciated how each of the cats had their own personality and yet worked together to solve crimes and to take care of their families. This is one mystery that had me reading right up until the last page because the criminals were unpredictable and the sleuths weren't giving up until the mystery was solved. The storyline flowed smoothly and as I said, each character had their own personality and it was well defined. If I had one complaint, it would be that our narrator needs to mix up his catchphrases a bit. He has a tendency to repeat the same one an awful lot. But, he's a growing boy and perhaps as he gets older, his vocabulary will expand. I'm not going out on a limb to say this is a super cute, fun book that will delight readers and cat lovers alike.



I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review.  All thoughts, comments, and opinions are my own.
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After years abroad, Garrison Brown returns home to Vancouver to build a new life. When his beloved grandmother passes away a few weeks before Christmas, Garrison goes to her house to sort out her belongings, including six cats who need new homes. While Garrison hopes to dispense with the task quickly, his grandmother's instructions don't allow for speed. She has left Garrison with some challenging requirements for the future homes of her furry friends--plus a sizeable monetary gift for the new owners. Garrison's job is to match the cats with the right owners without disclosing the surprise gift. Along the way, he may just meet someone who can make him stay.

Humorous and heartwarming, this latest Christmas story from bestselling author Melody Carlson is the perfect gift for pet lovers and anyone in whose heart Christmas holds a special place.

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As a cat lover, I couldn't turn down the chance to review this book and I'm so glad I didn't. This short tome had me smiling and giving my own cats some extra scritches. Poor Garrison with his allergies had me chuckling. I felt like he was the neighbor down the street, someone I knew and those cats, each with their own personality, made me smile because I know just how different each cat can be. As I'm writing this, my little diva is grumbling that one of the other cats dared come near her. After him being here for four years, she still grumbles at him. That's just how she is and each of the cats that Garrison must find homes for had their own personalities. If you'd like a short, holiday read, then this book is a must for your stacks. In fact, I think it'd made an awesome stocking stuffer for the cat lover in anyone's life.




I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review.  All thoughts, comments and opinions are my own.
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Wordless Wednesday and I have the cutest picture! This is Miss Sadie Mae. She joined our family after I found out she might be tossed outside in a very busy part of Lansing. The theme over on Sunday Shutterbugs was Individual and this little girl certainly is!

Yesterday was such a great day. The sun was out. It was a balmy, gorgeous 81 outside and it just energized me. I got so much done! I finished sweeping the boys room. I got the stuffed toys that are going to Haiti all bagged up and had them outside for pick up. I tidied and swept the landing. I planted something like 9 different containers of veggies. I uploaded, labeled and grouped a whole bunch of photos on Flickr. I even went out and got my composter started.

What does that mean for today? It means I'm headed into Hastings to go grocery shopping and to get the boys. My Finish It Friday is that I'm stopping by the vets again. Hemi had ear mites and I strongly suspect that the other kitties to too. I'm taking in ear swabs of the two older kitties and taking Sadie in with me because she needs to be weighed. If nobody has guessed, our kitties are spoiled rotten and loved to death. We want them happy and healthy. They're happy so now I'm working on making sure that they're all healthy.

How about all of you, my loyal and loving readers? What are you going to Finish Up so that your weekend has more freedom to it?

Whew! I was just too tired to write this post yesterday. I tackled something pretty important yesterday. I drove into Hastings and took Hemi(ngway) to the vet. The poor guy had to be fixed. His sister went into heat and we just don't need/want kittens. Since it's about a 30-40 minute drive into Hastings, I decided to spend the day there.

I went out to the Goodwill store and to Walmart. I've been trying to find yard/gardening tools for a good price. No such luck but I did find some good deals on items we do need. I also picked up some more seeds and 9 little baby broccoli plants. I'm hoping that the weather is nice this weekend so we can start working on our garden.

I also went and checked out the new library in Hastings. Oh my goodness, it is so nice! It's so much bigger than their old one. I so wish that I still had my library card from there. They do have free wifi there, though which is super nice for if I need to waste some time in town again. Plus, they have a used bookstore inside! I love used books!

After all of that fun, I picked up my Hemi boy and brought his poor drugged, drunken sailor looking self home. For those of you who knew he was going to the vet, he's just fine. The drugs wore off and he was back to himself today.

It's Tuesday here and well pretty much everywhere. Though, I'm not sure about those far off places like Australia. I s'pose it could be Wednesday there already. Anyway, before I start babbling, let's dive right into this post.

It's Tuesday which means I have to pick something I've been procrastinating on and get it done. Yep, that's what it means and I have something here to do that ugh, I really don't like doing but really must be done. I need to change the cat litter and take out the trash. Now, the taking out of the trash is not a big deal. I mean, that takes about 2 minutes and is just a matter of pulling the bag out, taking it to the front porch and tossing it over the rail into our outdoor trash can. It can't get much simpler. Let's face it, it's the cat litter that I'm going to whine be a big girl and get it done.

So, that's my plan for today and here's your challenge: One of the things I kept finding as I tackled some of "The Wall" was ink pens. Are y'all like we seem to be right now? Do you have pens laying about everywhere? Well, here's your challenge. I want you to gather up all the pens into one place and then I want you to test each and every one of them. If it doesn't work, get rid of it. If you just can't stand the way it writes, get rid of it. Or, if you're feeling really creative, put those old pens to use. Check this out! This person used old bic pens to make a chandelier! Then, once you're done testing and playing with the pens, take the remaining ones and put them into a great cup or jar or pen holder of your choice and put them way. :)

Let me know how you did!

I finished my bedroom yesterday, like I mentioned, and honestly, I got so excited with how it looks that I took pictures to show all of you here. I think this is the cleanest my bedroom has been since I moved in and I just love how it looks. I slept so well last night. I can't wait until every room in my house looks this good.


This is my alcove. It sits right between two closets and I have no idea why it's there, but it was crying out for these shelves. I'm proud to say that I hung them all by myself..and it also reminds me to add a stud finder to my household wish list. The other picture is my dresser. It's an antique that belonged to my great-grandparents and I love it. The suitcases stacked beside it act as a night stand for that side of the bed. I want one more to bring it up but haven't spotted one in a thrift store in a while.


And it's been a bit since I've shown you pictures of my babies. As you can tell, the kittens were thrilled that mom was cleaning the bedroom. As soon as I finished tidying the bed, Mittens curled right up in the warm spot behind the laptop and went to sleep. Her brother, Hemingway, on the other hand, chose the corner by the closet and took a nice long nap.

I still cannot believe that this is my bedroom. I swear it's like walking into a hotel room and I'm loving it! Now, I'm going to go find those candles and enjoy the tranquility. I hope all of you are finding time to take care of yourselves today.

It's Wednesday and I'm moving slower than molasses in wintertime. My back is still bothering me so I'm taking it very easy today and working from the couch. I have a few projects that I can do from there. I'm still organizing decorations and I bought a big corkboard for the kitchen wall. It's going to be the kids' Wow! board where we hang up special things like A's and artwork. I'm going to "split" it in half and cover each half with a different paper so that each boy has a unique side for us to hang stuff on. I think I'll also get the packing tape out and repair the plastic tote that's going to hold my overflow decorations. Next year, it will be replaced with a bin that matches the others.

Now, onto today's Sunday Shutterbug challenge. This is week 2 of A and they chose animal for the theme. When I read that, I knew just what picture I wanted to post. I took this over the weekend. It's Byron and Hemingway (formerly Romeo, formerly Isabella) cuddled up on the couch. I just love when I find the pair of them like this.


So, what picture did you take this week? What memory did you create and document?

Wednesday..Wednesday...so good to me...Ok, those aren't the real lyrics, but even though I feel down right crummy (fallout from Monday's events) I am in good spirits. I just wish my to do list would do itself! Why don't they ever do themselves?

Well, I'm going to make sure to finish this post so that then I can move on to the next parts of my far too long list. So, over on Sunday Shutterbugs, the theme is Red. Now, I know that there isn't much red in this picture, but there's a story and stories are good, right?

So, this is Isabella. I posted pictures of her when she was just a tiny thing but as you can see, she's growing up fast. This is a basket I had emptied and she insisted on sleeping in it every chance she got. Right up until I filled it with other things and put it away, that is. So, this morning, I was in the bathroom and using Nair on my legs. Honestly, I had gotten tired of shaving and wanted to try something that would last a bit longer. Well, of course, I forgot to take a watch or clock into the bathroom with me, so I opened the bathroom door to see the one on the laptop. No big deal, right? Wrong. The girls, as usual, rushed into the bathroom the second I opened the door and little Miss Isabella rubbed right against my leg. The leg that had Nair gooped all over it. Now, I didn't want a bald cat, so I grabbed a washcloth and tried to wipe as much off as I could. I thought I'd gotten all of it until a couple minutes later when she walked past me again and I saw another streak of it. Now, would she come to me when I called her? Or even sit still while I'm trying to grab her? Of course not. Now, try not to laugh too hard as you imagine me...with Nair covered legs, chasing this kitten around the living room while trying not to get the Nair on either of the other 2 cats who were enjoying the chase or on the furniture.. In the end, I did manage to catch the rascal and rinse/comb the rest of the Nair out and other than her hair being slightly thinner in a couple of areas, she doesn't seem to be traumatized or any the worse for war. Mom's nerves however....

So, that's my really not even close to Wordless Wednesday. Do you have any photos to share this week? Are you planning on hopping over to Sunday Shutterbugs to post a link? Let me know here! I want to see too!

I want to start out by thanking all of you who sent your condolences about Sylver. He really was one of my babies and a well loved member of our family. Yesterday was a really hard day for me.

After a lot of tears and hugs and talking, we decided to honor his memory by adopting another shelter cat. Today, we drove 45 minutes to a fantastic non-profit, no kill shelter. We took along some newspaper and some canned cat food to donate in Syl's name.

It took us nearly 2 hours of looking and petting and talking, but we found our new love. His name is Byron. We've dubbed him LB, short for Lord Byron. I have to say though, stately this cat is not. He's a master sneak attacker and he loves to roll around on the floor and climb up on shoulders.

This is the picture from the website. I'll post some more once I manage to get some. He was too busy playing to pause for pictures while we were at the shelter.

For those of you out there who wished there was something they could do to help ease my pain, I would like to ask you to do something to honor Sylver and the life he led. It may have been short, but it was happy and full of love.

I would ask that you take the time to locate your closest no-kill animal shelter/rescue group. Once you find it, please do one (or heck, all) of the following : a) adopt a pet. there are so many animals out there that need loving homes. b) offer your love and home for foster care. yes, there are animals out there who need a place to stay until slots open up in the shelters. c.) make a donation. It could be your time, your money or some of the things that the shelter needs.

If there isn't a no-kill animal shelter in your area, let me point you to the one we visited today. The people there were so nice, the areas were all clean and the animals were obviously very well taken care of. If you're looking to adopt a cat, they're even waiving the adoption fees from now until August 1st. You can find more information here about the available animals, the things they need and where you can find them.

One last thing...and I may sound like Bob Barker here, but please be a responsible pet owner and have your babies spayed or neutered. There are so many out there already that need loving homes, please don't add to the problem by allowing your animals to have unwanted babies.